This week's crop of new releases aim to open your imagination to worlds of wonder and bring you adventures that will be Legendary! Stories and endeavors worthy of sagas to be told for generations! Or, in other words, here are a great crop of new games for you and your group to enjoy. Hope you spot something you can't wait to bring to your table!

Amazing characters, the wondrous Ninth World, and the game rules to explore it with.

Create characters, explore the Ninth World, and learn the basic rules of the Numenera roleplaying game with this inexpensive player’s guide. It’s perfect for getting a taste of the game, having an extra reference on hand at the gaming table, and building new characters. The guide is an easy-to-access resource for anyone playing Numenera and a wonderful introduction and teaching tool for the game.

The Numenera Player’s Guide includes:

All the basic game rules for this fast-paced, story-based tabletop roleplaying game.

An intuitive, concept-driven character-generation system, with scores of options for building just the character you imagine.

Kids on Bikes is a Collaborative World Building RPG set in small towns with big mysteries. Written and created by celebrated game designers Jon Gilmour (Dead of Winter, Atari: Centipede/Missile Command/Asteroids) & Doug Levandowski (Gothic Doctor, Seven Minutes in Hell). Kids on Bikes is a rules-light storytelling system that gets players into the action fast.

The Adventures of Kids on Bikes take place in small towns at any point in history before:

Everyone had a camera phone that could catch video of a Ghost

Use GPS to track a Homicidal Maniac roaming around town

Research an old creaky house in seconds using Google

Kids on Bikes takes place in a more mysterious time, where anything and everything *could* happen.

Kids on Bikes is a 60 page, rules-light, fast-paced storytelling game in the spirit of games like DREAD, Perseverant, MONSTERHEARTS, and other great indy titles. Kids on Bikes is perfect for game nights in which you want to get a game in RIGHT NOW.

It's the 1920s Prohibition era in the United States. Alcohol is illegal. Organized crime grows at an unprecedented rate as gangsters get rich selling hooch to a thirsty populace. Law enforcement struggles to keep up with an understaffed and underfunded Bureau of Prohibition.

You are one of a handful of people who have been gifted with super-powers!

Will you use your abilities to build a criminal empire as a super-powered gangster? Or will you focus your powers to serve the alw and bring these criminals to justice?

Maschine Zeit is ghost stories in space stations. It does quick, brutal horror in the vein of Alien, Event Horizon, Pandorum, Life, and other movies set in a future where people go places they shouldn't be, and die terrifying deaths.

It's designed for improvised one-shot games, which emulate the arcs of horror cinema. You can play it long-term as "sequels," but it's made to end in the time it takes to bleed out.

The game system has two major mechanics, which can be learned in minutes: The basic resolution system, and the injury and dying system.

The basic resolution system is resource-based, and drives the pacing along.

The injury system is unforgiving and dramatic. You might die by being stabbed by a pencil, but even if you get hit with a chainsaw, you get your dramatic dying speech.

You just need two ten-sided dice to play.

The book has ideas for hacking the game into different genres, including Japanese psychological horror, mecha body horror, and "final girl" slasher films.

All of existence and nonexistence, reality and surreality, is spoken in a Universal Language. It describes all the laws of the universe: what is and what is not, everything that ever happened and ever will, won’t, or can’t. This language is beyond the full comprehension of any mortal, though a rare few have an ear for it. These individuals can translate the Universal Language into familiar glyphs and, from there, spell out new descriptions, new laws, new realities.

Spell: The RPG is a complete, original tabletop roleplaying game using six-sided dice and letter tiles. Roll dice to complete tasks with Impulses – stats that describe a character’s motivations and personality. Draw random letter tiles to spell out magic abilities and keep the best spells to use again and again. This system balances creativity and potential with fair and streamlined mechanics.

Career Ops: Job Fair #1 a supplement for EN Publishing's N.O.W. The Modern Action Roleplaying Game. It includes new careers, new equipment and vehicles, an add-on to the vehicle combat rules, and a detailed adventure hook.

Inside Career Ops you'll find:
New Careers

The Faller (aka, Logger or Lumberjack)

Wilderness Guide

Museum Curator (also, Curator of the Occult variant)

Offshore Roustabout (also, Circus Roustabout variant)

And bonus career, Freestyle Watercraft Rider

Rules for Thaumaturgy, an optional spellcasting system based on Russ Morrissey's Sorcery option found in EONS #110

New Equipment & Vehicles, including three nautical vehicles

Additional Vehicle Combat rules for Watercraft

The Gaean Order, an eco-terrorist/militant insurgent organization

Bedeviled by the Deep Blue Sea, a detailed adventure hook for 2-4 Grade 5 PCs. A storm is coming, and the PCs are tapped to rescue the crew of an offshore oil rig before the storm hits. But, the Gaean Order means to stop them from seeing things onboard best kept secret. Can the PCs survive the job?

Career Ops: Job Fair #1 requires the use of a What's O.L.D. is N.E.W. core rulebook.

It’s been five hundred years since the aliens came and almost as long since they took the Earth away from us.

Now we live in the cracks and crannies of the galaxy with ten thousand other outcast species, scraping up everything we need to live day to day: water, food, even air.

At least we have the Network. The Imperial Races may own all the garden spots, but ninety-nine out of a hundred places it connects are too cold, too hot, too arid or just too all-around awful to interest them. That’s the stage we play on now. Maybe one day we’ll get our own back, but right now our business is survival.

Outcast is an OSR SF RPG using the Cepheus Engine core rules or other similar game systems.

Creature Codex Lairs for 5th Edition brings you 9 great monster lairs for the world’s first roleplaying game! Each of these exciting and unusual battlegrounds comes with a complete short adventure, including a hook, terrain map, area hazards, tactics, and treasures. Stage your 5th Edition fights in unforgettable one-shot adventures including:

Lair of the Fire Cult, Level 1

A Rat Among Us, Part 1, Level 3

A Rat Among Us, Part 2, Level 3

Caverns of the Howling Moon, Level 4

Paying the Shadow Toll, Level 4

Swept Away, Level 6

Ice Maiden’s Kiss, Level 7

King of Ill Fortune, Level 8

Trollkin Hunt, Level 10

Designed by RPG veteran Shawn Merwin, the Creature Codex Lairs add an aura of danger and wild adventure to your game!

Creature Codex Lairs uses standard monsters as well as surprising new creatures from the Creature Codex and the Tome of Beasts. Both monster books are required for maximum utility.

Continuing the combination of utility, imaginative content, and deep research found in the Discoveries series, Evil Beagle's resident scholar and master-of-cleverness, Michael Surbrook, brings another useful toolkit to bear for Game Masters who want to elevate their games. In this case, Draconic Discoveries is an extraordinary treatise on how to incorporate the most powerful and dominant creatures of any fantasy setting into your campaign, including -

Tons of information about dragons - their habits, their interests, and how they deal with the world around them.

Distinctive lairs for each type of dragon, tailored to their specific natures and capabilities.

Various non-dragon entities that bear much in common to their draconic cousins.

This is a much bigger and deeper product than most of the Discoveries products, as befits the large and in-charge nature of its subjects.

Over 7 years ago we told people YOUR ZOMBIE SURVIVAL PLAN WILL FAIL, and asked you to PROVE US WRONG. Many of you did, but CAN YOU SURVIVE the next stage?

The stuttering of the generator shakes the machine violently, its last bit of gas rings in the background, while the lights flicker as you enter the sub-basement of the hospital. You came here looking for antibiotics, but there is something else here...

Outbreak: Undead.. is Survival Horror simulation-based RPG, focusing on practical experience - and scarcity of resources rather than sensationalist hero fulfillment. The game asks you not ‘IF’ you are going to die, but ‘WHEN’.

Outbreak: Undead is a sandbox system, with no real 'pre-established world building or lore' - players can create highly adaptable mission frameworks. Allowing for any kind of Survival Horror Apocalypse (slow, fast, sentient, biologically alive), in any kind of environment (urban, arctic, jungle, swampland), and take place in any kind of setting (divergent history, modern day, near future, fandom worlds) you can imagine.

War is hell at the best of times, but it gets worse when the powers of Hell are directly involved.

Satan’s Playground expands All for One into the Thirty Years’ War, a brutal conflict that is ripping Germany and neighboring lands apart.

As survivors of the ever-expanding war, characters will face the ravages of plague, marauding armies, cruel mercenaries, Satanic cults, starving peasants who will sink their teeth into anything edible, and twisted fiends from hell.

Contents include new character options, a history of the war as far as 1636, a gazetteer detailing Germany and her neighbors, rules for foraging and scavenging, diabolical mundane and supernatural threats, and advice for running adventures in a war torn land.

The dream of a Wolfen Empire has grown into a reality that the rest of the world can no longer ignore. The 12 tribes stand united and the Wolfen’s resolve strengthens. A clash between humans and Wolfen in the Eastern Territory seems inevitable and tensions strain.

This adventure sourcebook presents a more detailed overview of the Wolfen Empire and how these canine people think. It also presents a half dozen adventures and over a hundred adventure ideas suitable for adventures in the region. In many ways it is a prelude that sets the stage of the Wolfen Wars about to erupt.

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ROLE PLAYING GAMES

Legend of the Five Rings Core Rulebook
Core Rulebook
By Fantasy Flight Games

At 336 pages, The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Core Rulebook allows gamemasters and players to enter the world of Rokugan like never before. The Core Rulebook is the next step for players after the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Beginner Box, and offers players new ways to customize their characters and craft their own adventures in the Emerald Empire

Game Master’s Kit
Legend of the Five Rings Accessory
By Fantasy Flight Games

The GM Kit includes both a beautiful screen that keeps the rules at your fingertips as well as a pre-made adventure in the mysterious Slow Tide Harbor. Guide your players into the world of Rokugan with style and ease with the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Master’s Kit!

Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Dice
Accessory
By Fantasy Flight Games

10 custom Legend of the Five Rings dice.

Whispers of Shadow and Steel
Legend of the Five Rings Novel
By Fantasy Flight Games

Whispers of Shadow and Steel, a new novella set in the world of Rokugan by Mari Murdock, focusing on the Scorpion Clan. Not only does the novella feature a full-length thrilling story, but also includes two extended art cards from Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game!

Book of Ages
13th Age Fantasy Supplement
By Pelgrane Press

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to be eaten by it,

The game is called 13th Age – so what’s in those 12 previous Ages? What fantastic treasures, brooding monsters, perilous dungeons, or ancient secrets survive from past centuries? What now-vanished icons shaped history, and what legacies did they leave behind?

Loot Harder: A Book of Treasures
13th Age Fantasy Supplement
By Pelgrane Press

You’ve defeated the monsters, now it’s time to loot the lair!

Loot Harder: A Book of Treasures brings you hundreds of new magic items for your 13th Age game, including true magic items, consumables, and items for new classes.

This limited-edition Judge’s screen includes all the tables a DCC judge needs to run their game. On the face out side, it has an amazing three-panel Doug Kovacs painting based on the Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying (2018 Gen Con Program Guide).

The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying
Dungeon Crawl Classics Adventure
By Goodman Games

The annual Goodman Games community-building sourcebook adopts a new format thi year!

Building on the immense popularity of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Team Tournament at Gen Con last year, the program guide this year “presents” Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Black Heart of Thakulon the Undying. This double-sized DCC adventure comes complete with pre-generated characters and scoring instructions so fans can run their own tournament at home!

This adventure is recommended for level 4 characters.

C2 – Shades of Mist
5th Edition Adventure
By Troll Lord Games

Upon the slopes of the long bluff of Loretta's Agony lie the ruins of Aliegor. Long ago, it was home to devotees of the Og-Aust, the Frog Gods. Their religious house thrived like no other. It bore the fruit of wealth and the knowledge of the world before the turmoil of war and plague, before even the coming of the kings and the rule of the bastard gods. Now beneath the shades of the willow trees, along the course of the Mistbane's tributaries only the shadows of memories remain.

Plunge into the deeps of the Darkenfold and explore the mysteries beyond the green. Here your worthy arms can explore the ruins of the village of Alice and the temple of Aliegor. See what dangers lurk in Mount Hermitage, but be wary for the mist upon the river is deadly and the Bowlgarr orcs are on the move!

Adventure along the banks of the Mistbane River and explore deeper into the Darkenfold with Shades in the Mist.

This adventure is designed for 4-8 characters of 3-5 levels. Overland.

Embark on a cooperative epic adventure that is Folklore the Affliction. Find and destroy the source of the evil spreading its claws into the heart of the land, decimating its people and resources. Free the denizens from the scourge of vampirism and lycanthropy and expand your power and abilities. Are you a survivor, or will you play as your ghost? Will you fall to the bloodlust or the taint of lycanthropy yourself?

Folklore: The Affliction is an expandable ongoing horror RPG board game for 1-5 players that focuses on immersive storyline, strategic combat, character development and intense character customization elements. Your successes and failures, encounters and challenges can affect the entire group raising the ante and fueling interaction. Play one of six customizable and unique characters in a quest to gain Lore by conquering the supernatural Afflictions. Travel the land and enter dark locations where the action becomes a miniature based dungeon crawl. Uncover deeper and more intriguing storylines as you go further into darkness in your quest to drive the evil back into the hell it came from.

Dying in Folklore is not the end for your character... dead characters play on as their ghost with ethereal powers to strike down your foes from beyond the grave. You are never truly out of the action. Customizable abilities even include those that can strengthen your character in the afterlife!

The Depths of Yoth is the fifth Mythos Pack in The Forgotten Age cycle for Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

Following the events of The City of Archives, your team of investigators find yourselves trapped deep in the of the Earth and the only way out is...down. Your mission to protect humanity continues, but the threats to your life increase with each level of the descent. There is no telling what monsters have grown in these dark caverns and now pursue your team, but you cannot look back, or you are surely lost.

This Mythos Pack features new player cards to customize your investigators' decks and treacherous encounter cards to immerse you in the peril of your investigation.

Underhand of the Emperor Scorpion Clan Pack
Legend of the Five Rings LCG Expansion
By Fantasy Flight Games

Underhand of the Emperor contains 78 new cards (three copies of 25 different cards and 1 copy pf each of 3 different cards.) Underhand of the Emperor expands on classic themes of the Scorpion giving them new deck building options that encourages them to toe the line between dishonour and defeat. Look for a new Role card, a Philosophy that prevents you from losing the game, and an army of whispers, standing at attention.

Traveller Customizable Card Game : Two Player Starter Set
2 players, ages 12+, 30-60+ minutes
By Horizon Games

A card game with trade, exploration and combat in Marc Miller's classic RPG setting, The Third Imperium.

Traveller is a card game adaptation of Marc Miller's classic Science-Fiction role-playing game. Players assume the role of ship Captains plying the mains of the Third Imperium. The basic mechanics are an icon-driven race game, with ample opportunities to interact with, and even engage in piracy against, other players. All Captains must also contend with a hostile galaxy and the looming threat of insolvency.

Traveller is non-collectable. There's no random allocation of cards, and no rarities. Every product is a fixed set, so you always know exactly what you're getting. This box comes with two Ship Decks (Scout and Free Trader), 60 additional cards, a rule book and counter sheet.

The Type A 200 ton Free Trader is a common interstellar merchant ship plying the space lanes carrying cargo and passengers. Valued for its rugged design and adaptability, the Beowulf (as it is also known) is equally at home among the main commerce lines or on the fringes of Imperial space.

An epic encounter between the world’s savviest alchemists is drawing universal attention. Each alchemist starts with the same basic ingredients; rare mushrooms, secret liquid vials and poisonous beetles. In a match of wit and bluff they compete to get rid of their ingredients and control the final potion. Closely watching each other’s move and expression, will you prevail in this unique and original game of deception?

In ancient prehistoric times, you have discovered a new land with plentiful lakes, mountains and forests (and apparently many stone rocks that shall be called dice). Your people can develop new things like basketry or find oxen or simply grow and conquer.

In Rise of Tribes, players control a tribal faction in prehistoric times that's looking to grow, move, gather, and lead their people. The board is modular, composed of hexes in various terrain types. Each turn you roll two dice, and may select from four actions. The power of your action depends on your die roll PLUS the last couple of dice on that action card. Victory is possible in a couple ways: gathering resources to build villages and/or completing development and achievement goals for your civilization.

All you need in Catch the Moon are a few skillfully placed ladders, a good sense of balance, and a touch of imagination. The moon waits impatiently for your arrival, but she's a sensitive lady and the smallest mistake can make her cry. The right mix of skill and luck will help you become the most agile dreamer...

Bubulcus Deck
Agricola Expansion
By Lookout Games

Agricola: Bubulcus Deck contains 120 occupation and minor improvement cards for use with the revised edition of Agricola.

Palaces
2-4 players, ages 12+, 60+ minutes
By Gorilla Games

Palaces is a deck-building bidding game in which you win cards and build towers.

On a turn, the active player chooses to draw from one of three stacks of cards, then all players bid or drop out. There is only one round of bidding per card. Bids are valued based on the size of a suit (e.g., three-of-a-kind beats two-of-a-kind, etc.), and if the size matches, you compare suits: Gold, Silver, Crystal, Marble. If size and suit match, compare a secondary bid (3 gold and 2 marble beats 3 gold and a silver).

The highest bidder activates the card's special effect and adds it to their discard pile. (Eventually it returns to their hand and activates again when in a winning bid.) The winner of the bid also gets to add a room to one of their two towers, while the other players draw cards. Play proceeds clockwise.

Each player's two towers must match one another. The winner is the player with the tallest lower tower.

Unlike most deck-building games, you do not void your hand after your turn. Players who win bids discard their bids to build their towers, while other players draw cards.

Heaven & Ale
2-4 players, ages 12+, 60-90+ minutes
By Eggertspiele

You have been assigned to lead an ancient monastery and its brewery. Now it's your time to brew the best beer under God's blue sky!

The fine art of brewing beer demands your best timing. In order to get the best results of your production, you have to provide your cloister's garden with fertile resources and the right number of monks helping with the harvest — but keep your brewmaster in mind as he is ready and eager to refine each and every one of your barrels!

In Heaven & Ale, you have to overcome the harsh competition of your fellow players. There is a fine balance between upgrading your cloister's garden and harvesting the resources you need to fill your barrels. Only those who manage to keep a cool head are able to win the race for the best beer!

Beyond The Gates
Paper Tales Expansion
By Stronghold Games

Blinded by their quest for power, Kingdoms progressively break the barriers of forbidden knowledge. In occult and illicit places, necromancers and alchemists dig deeper each day towards the doors of the Underworld. At the risk of awakening something that goes far beyond their imagination...

Paper Tales: Beyond the Gates contains twenty new units and six new buildings that are meant to both preserve the balance of the base game and enhance its possibilities and replay value. With this expansion, players can now start with a set of seven buildings available, out of eleven, and these buildings are different every game. Each new building opens new strategies, as does the impact of the new units.

Beyond the Gate also includes all components needed for supporting up to seven players. It also includes a solo mode in which a single player has to face the powerful armies of the Lich King. This mode comes with specific Necropolis and Lich King cards.

Ages ago, Zeus won control of Mount Olympus in an epic dice battle against Hades. Now, after ages of toiling in the underworld, Hades has finally convinced the other gods and goddesses that the time has come to challenge Zeus for control of the throne. As one of these powerful deities, you possess great power and the drive to make Olympus your own, but will luck also be on your side?

In Fleecing Olympus, players take turns using their deity's powers, rolling dice, and using powerful card abilities in an effort to steal golden gems from other players. When the game ends, the player holding the most gems becomes the new ruler of Mount Olympus and wins the game!

Space Park
1-4 players, ages 14+, 20-30+ minutes
By Keymaster Games

Ride a rocket to extraordinary destinations across our galaxy. During your travels you will gather exotic crystals that further our understanding of what’s out there. Use these crystals to complete exploration badges and turn them in at the mysterious Outpost 13 to prove yourself as the galaxy’s next great space explorer!

Space Park features a modular board where seven destinations are randomly arranged to form a circle between players. During a player's turn, rockets will be on three of the board's seven destinations. These rockets symbolize what destinations are available for a player to travel to. Once a player travels to a destination by performing its action, that rocket moves to the next open destination clockwise.

Destinations feature actions such as gaining a certain type of crystal, acquiring a new badge to work toward, turning in your crystals for Explorer Points, or using your trusty explorer-bot Scout to help out. The player with the most Explorer Points at the end of the game wins.

In the card game Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by playing game cards in front of them that represent worlds or technical and social developments. Some worlds allow players to produce goods, which can be consumed later to gain either card draws or victory points when the appropriate technologies are available to them. These are mainly provided by the developments and worlds that are not able to produce, but the fancier production worlds also give these bonuses.

At the beginning of each round, players each select, secretly and simultaneously, one of the seven roles which correspond to the phases in which the round progresses. By selecting a role, players activate that phase for this round, giving each player the opportunity to perform that phase's action. For example, if one player chooses the settle role, each player has the opportunity to settle one of the planets from their hand. The player who has chosen the role, however, gets a bonus that applies only to them. But bonuses may also be acquired through developments, so you must be aware when another player also takes advantage of your choice of role.

Asking for Trobils is a worker-placement boardgame where the player is trying their best to rid the star system of Trobils (space pests). You play a Trobil Hunter - flinging the space vermin into the star, and dealing with unsavory folk just to get the job done.

Players start with one ship, placing it at various locations to gather resources that will allow you to trap Trobils. But just one ship may not be enough, so you can fly through a wormhole to create two or even three ships to help you gather resources.

You can make connections to gain more resources or hang around the local Riffraff. Send pirates, bounty hunters, or gangsters out to make areas rougher for your opponents, or enhance locations for everyone by sending out traders and courtesans.

For every Trobil card you capture, you gain victory points. The player with the most points at the end wins

Maki Stack
2-6 players, ages 7+, 10+ minutes
By Blue Orange Games

Order's up, so it's time for a sushi showdown! Balance and arrange the sushi, plates, and soy sauce bottles, and make sure to execute the order exactly as shown on the card. Be careful because one wrong move and everything might tumble over! Use your fingers as chopsticks to stack pieces, or play in team mode, with each teammate using only one hand and one finger. Maybe you'll play in blindfold mode, with you guiding your teammate as they blindly build the tower of sushi.

Be the fastest solo chef or culinary team to master the art of sushi stacking and win Maki Stack, which is playable by two, four, or six players.

Unrivaled
4-6 players, ages 18+, 15-30+ minutes
By Lark & Clam

Be best at being the worst. Be worst at being the best. Be Unrivaled.

Welcome to a brand new party game experience where players guess the winner before each challenge begins! Draw a card and ask the question out loud.

Who is the best artist? Who would make the best spy? Who was a problem child?
Which group would make the worst sales team?

Predict the winner and then read the back of the card, where players are challenged to a variety of madcap contests of story-telling, trivia, dexterity and role-playing to determine who is the best, who is the worst and who is, ultimately, the Unrivaled.

Spider-Friends
Vs. System 2PCG Expansion
By Upper Deck Entertainment

The first installation of the Great Power Arc.

Even Super Heroes could use a little help from their friends from time to time. Spider-Man is fortunate to have an amazing array of friends and allies to help him in this latest expansion to Vs. System 2PCG. Look for a variety of spectacular supporting characters from Black Cat to Aunt May! This set also includes an infamous black suit, that while a bit too clingy, does offer some new abilities and Symbiote equipment to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Vs. System 2PCG: Spider-Friends showcases 55 new cards that are centered on the webslinger and his friends. Including Main Characters, Supporting Characters, Plot Twists, and a Special Location. Vs System 2PCG: Spider-Friends can be combined with any other Vs System 2PCG sets.

An inevitable side-effect to the indomitable effectiveness of a certain wise-cracking webslinger has resulted in his enemies effectively unionizing! This evil expansion to Vs. System 2PCG includes an unprecidented SIX NEW MAIN CHARACTERS and presents a menacing collection of Spider-Man's most notorious villains!

Vs. System 2PCG: Sinister Syndicate showcases 55 new cards that showcase Spider-Man's greatest foes. Including Main Characters, Supporting Characters, Plot Twists, and a Special Location. Vs System 2PCG: Sinister Syndicate can be combined with any other Vs System 2PCG sets.

Critical Mass is a fast-paced mech combat game. Players go head-to-head in this fighting-strategy game with deck-building aspects. Players choose their favorite mech to battle it out, with each mech offering a different loadout of cards to start the game and unique powers.

Each turn, players play a card face-down. When both players have chosen a card, they reveal them. Cards resolve based on their speed if they haven't been interrupted. Weapons deal damage and interrupt the enemy, while defending avoids weapon hits. Upgrading offers you additional cards to add to your arsenal but is vulnerable to being interrupted. Lastly, recharge reloads spent cards.

As cards are played, they go to their owner's cool-down pile, where they remain until they're reloaded. As players take damage, the armor on their mech is destroyed. When enough armor is destroyed, an armor core becomes vulnerable and can be destroyed to stun that mech for the next turn. The game ends when a mech's armor is completely destroyed down to the last core.

Critical Mass is a fast-paced mech combat game. Players go head-to-head in this fighting-strategy game with deck-building aspects. Players choose their favorite mech to battle it out, with each mech offering a different loadout of cards to start the game and unique powers.

Each turn, players play a card face-down. When both players have chosen a card, they reveal them. Cards resolve based on their speed if they haven't been interrupted. Weapons deal damage and interrupt the enemy, while defending avoids weapon hits. Upgrading offers you additional cards to add to your arsenal but is vulnerable to being interrupted. Lastly, recharge reloads spent cards.

As cards are played, they go to their owner's cool-down pile, where they remain until they're reloaded. As players take damage, the armor on their mech is destroyed. When enough armor is destroyed, an armor core becomes vulnerable and can be destroyed to stun that mech for the next turn. The game ends when a mech's armor is completely destroyed down to the last core.

Castle Climbing Frog
2-4 players, Ages 5+, 20+ minutes
By HABA

Splash! Yet another castle resident has let something fall out of the window and roll into the castle pond: The princess can't find her golden ball, the magician searches for his crystal ball, and the cook has lost a head of cabbage. What will they do?

Only Francesco the climbing frog can fetch the items! But he needs help climbing the steep castle tower and tracking down the ball's owner. First, the players open windows to find the right castle resident. Then they help the climbing frog balance the ball up the wall by pulling on the strings — but they need to be careful that the ball doesn't fall into the wrong hole in the wall. The player who uses their skill and memory to return the most balls wins Castle Climbing Frog!

Quirk!
2-6 players, ages 7+, 15-30+ minutes
By Emmerse Studios

The aim of the game is to win as many Quirks as possible. A Quirk is 3 of the same character card. To win character cards from other players you must make sounds or actions of the cards you want to a specific player in hope they have it. If they do they pass all copies over to you, if not they tell you to Quirk! and you pick up from the deck.

The game finishes once all the cards in the deck have been played and you count up your Quirks at the end.

The game also includes Tactic, Defence and Skip cards, allowing you to steal Quirks from other players, Defend your Quirks from other players or make other players skip their go.

Quirk! Legends is a follow on game from Quirk! In this stand alone version of the game you play as legendary characters, unicorns, mermaids, angels, demons and many others. It can also be mixed with the original Quirk! game.

The goal: To win the most Quirks by the end of the game.

A Quirk is 3 of the same character card (green). To win character cards from other players on your turn, you must act out the card you want to win from another player, choosing the player you wish to win it from. If they have it, they must give it to you. If not you pick up another card from the deck and the game continues.

Once Quirks are on the table you can start using Tactic cards (red) to steal Quirks from other players. You can use Defence cards (orange) to defence your Quirks from an attack or use a Skip card (blue)after your turn to skip another player if you wish.

The game ends when all Quirks have been played. Who ever has the most is the winner!

Shifty Eyed Spies
4-8 players, ages 9+, 20+ minutes
By Big G Creative

Face off in a stealthy competition of covert communication. Use a wink to signal that you have a delivery for another spy, then await their eye-shift that indicates the rendezvous location. Be discreet – if anyone intercepts you, the mission is blown!

Tired of having to choose what game to play? Why not play more than one at the same time? Sure, those other games are great. That’s why Gameception wants you to continue playing those while you play it. It’s the game that plays all day.

From “The Singer”, which says “If someone else sings a song” to “The Power Gamer”, which says “If someone else tells a player what to do on their turn.” Get someone to slip up and score your card! Draw a new card each time you score one and at the end of gameday tally all the cards you scored. Winner is the one with the most cards.

These large neoprene playmats each support up to six players and include space for the Market Deck, Market, Fire Gems, and Sacrifice Pile. They measures 24” x 14” (61cm x 35.5cm).

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MINIATURES & MINIATURE GAMES

Starship Scenery
TerrainCrate
By Mantic Games

Starship Doors
TerrainCrate
By Mantic Games

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WARGAMES

Lebensraum: The War For Europe
2 players, 3-16+ hours
By Compass Games

Lebensraum! is a grand strategic, moderate complexity game of the war between Nazi Germany and the Allied Nations, starting with the German invasion of the USSR in late June of 1941, through to the final battles to Berlin in 1945. The game includes both East and West Fronts, and can be played in a number of small (3 to 13) turn historical scenarios starting with Barbarossa in the East and Italy in the West, or in campaigns for each front individually, or a combined East and West front campaign.

Windhoek is a wargame of the campaign in which British Empire forces, mainly from the Union of South Africa, conquered the German colony of Southwest Africa. In the original campaign, the British won within ten months, but the campaign could have gone different, as von Lettow Vorbeck demonstrated in German East Africa. This is a two-player game, in which one side commands the Germans, and the other Allied forces (including South Africa, British and Portuguese colonial). The Allied player must win the game quickly, while the Germans win by delaying the Allies beyond the historical time frame. The central game mechanism is Action Points (AP). These are a quantification of each sides command and logistical capabilities. Players expend AP to recruit units and conduct various military operations. The game has two levels: The Standard Rules, which give a quick wargame, and the Advanced Rules, which give more realism and complexity. Windhoek includes 176 5/8 inch counters and a 22 x 34” map with each hex representing approximately 25 miles .

The above list has been compiled based upon distributor and retail new releases mailouts I receive. Please note that there may be some geographic differences in release dates and/or availability of items. Please contact your local store for more information.

Please note: Some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item the author of this post will receive an affiliate commission.

Reviews

Tired of all the fantasy role-playing games with a grim and dark palette? Well, Renegade Studios delivers a rules light system with a many-layered setting for players seeking out something brighter. Join the ranks of the Skyborn, with Overlight.

If getting your whole group together to play during December is a challenge, a holiday one-shot might be a perfect solution, and the official D&D Adventurer's League module Winter's Splendor by Ashley Warren is a great option. Even better, if you're running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, it's a good side adventure any time of the year.

Do you want to experience the danger a teenager trapped in a monster haunted town in the 1980s faces? Do you want to fight back against the monsters by break dancing and head banging using old school D&D derived rules? Then Dark Places & Demogorgons might be the RPG you are looking for.